Bitcoin for the unconnected: The Finnish protocol that lets you buy and sell currency through your TV

Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency to beat, has found its way into well over a million digital wallets worldwide but it’s yet to hit mass adoption. Finnish technology co-operative Koodilehto believes the answer to Bitcoin’s search for wider accessibility and reliability could lie in TV and radio signals.

“We want to improve the availability of the Bitcoin network and offer an alternative that doesn’t require an internet connection,” Koodilehto’s Tuomo Sipola says. “TV networks are very reliable, as they have been designed to work in challenging conditions almost anywhere.”

Since early September, a pilot of ‘Kryptoradio’ — a data transmission protocol developed by Sipola and Joel Lehtonen — has been successfully transmitting Bitcoin transaction and exchange rate data in real time through Finland’s digital national TV network.